Chapter 19
Hotch's head was throbbing; he squeezed his eyes shut recalling a blur of pink and red as he had forced the blonde woman into a stairwell as he made his escape. Striking out he had heard someone cry out, then suddenly the blur was gone and he had pushed the blonde woman forward.
He swallowed trying to quell the feeling of nausea that bombarded him, pressing the heel of his palm against his forehead, his other hand shaking, holding a gun he could only vaguely remembering taking from the man who was guarding his room.
An echo of a memory...
"Good Morning, sir."
Hotch's eyes snapped open. He had seen the guard before, somewhere else...in a hallway, in an office...the man had greeted him as he usually did when...
Confused, Hotch frowned and patted the man's suit he was wearing, pulling out a wallet from the inside pocket of the jacket, he flipped it open.
The name Agent Foster Cade, FBI glared back at him in bold print.
Why would they keep up this charade? His brother was dead and they had grabbed him, tied him to a bed and drugged him...for what? If they wanted him to take the rap for the dead women why all the whispers and false identities?
They kept saying that Mason did something to him...What? Cared for him? Helped him remember who he was?
A soft sob from the driver's seat made Hotch glance up, for a moment he had forgotten where he was and what was happening; he coughed and tossed the wallet aside, holding the gun tighter.
"Where are we going?" he asked the woman who seemed to be trembling as she drove.
Jessica was beside herself, she didn't know what to do. Call for help? Her phone was deep in her bag on the floor of the passenger seat, Hotch would notice her reaching for it. Crash the car? And risk killing herself or Hotch? Penelope had told her some of what Hotch had gone through, his amnesia, being drugged, tortured. Her heart went out to him...she had to try to reach him.
"I...I'm just driving around. You...you didn't tell me where you wanted to go." Jessica swiped the tears that slipped from her eyes while glancing in the rear view mirror, her heart breaking over the lost look in Hotch's eyes.
She jerked slightly as she felt his hand touch her hair.
Hotch stared at the back of Jessica's head, the strobing streetlights highlighting her hair in flashes that Hotch couldn't seem to look away from...
So blonde…
Skin and screams...blood and…
I want to go home.
But there was nothing there for him now. Mason was dead, they killed his brother and left him all alone. He would avenge his brother's death, but right now he needed time to think, to plot his next move, to...
"Aaron..." Jessica pleaded softly.
"That's not my name!" shouted Hotch grabbing her hair and yanking her head back.
The car swerved, Jessica startled at Hotch's outburst.
"Sorry, sorry!" she cried out trying to keep her eyes on the road; she tightened her grip on the steering wheel and pulled the car back into the proper lane, leaving the sounds of angry car horns in her wake.
Hotch let go of her hair and leaned back, he felt sick, the sway of the car not helping the nausea he was experiencing, nor the pounding in his head.
How do you do it? How do you do this job and still have...a wife and a baby?
"Elle?" he whispered...he was going to be sick again, Hotch squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.
"Your place." he sputtered out.
"What?" asked Jessica, feeling a sudden pit in her stomach.
No!
"Your place, I need time to think."
Jessica's mind raced; Alice, her elderly friend and neighbour had offered to come by to watch Jack for her while she visited Hotch.
She couldn't bring Hotch there in the state he was in; she couldn't allow Jack to be reunited with his father this way, maybe she'd drive somewhere else...maybe...
"I saw your address on your license." came a pained murmur from the backseat, as if reading her mind; a subtle warning to her.
Biting the side of her lip in blind indecision as she glanced once again at her bag and the too out of reach phone, Jessica headed home.
"Anything Garcia?"
Garcia sat perched on the edge of a chair in the nurse's lounge typing furiously on her laptop, her cellphone next to her on speaker.
"The WIFI signal isn't the greatest in here." she muttered.
'Garcia!"
"I'm trying my love," she said more loudly. "Wait...okay. I'm in, connected to Jessica's GPS."
"Where's the car now?" asked Morgan.
After getting Garcia's frantic phone call, the team who had all driven to the meeting separately had chosen to use Rossi's personal Ford Explorer he had decided to drive that morning; Rossi freely giving Morgan the car keys as he was the fastest and most adept driver among them.
"She's just driving, there's a highway not far from where she is…oh no, what if Hotch is forcing her to drive out of the city…maybe back to that house!" She had seen pictures the forensic team took from the house that Hotch had lived/been held captive in…She couldn't imagine him thinking that was his home.
"Wait, wait." Garcia peered closer at the screen, a cup of coffee left by a nurse sitting by her side untouched.
"The car is turning off." A few seconds passed and Morgan could hear Garcia gasp over the phone.
"What is it?" Morgan almost shouted.
"I...I can't be sure, but it looks like she's heading in the direction of her apartment building!"
"Jack's there." she heard Rossi say in the background.
"Garcia, we'll head to Jessica's place, keep us informed on their location." Morgan ordered.
"Yes of course, will do…" Garcia's heart beat wildly in her chest, as Morgan severed the line.
Jessica pulled into her parking spot in front of the small apartment building where she lived and shut off the engine.
She exhaled quietly and glanced in the rearview mirror at her ex-brother in law; her brows furrowing, her heart warring between fear and worry.
"Aaron?" she whispered warily, worried about him lashing out again.
Hotch was staring out the side window, eyes distant.
She turned to look back at him then glanced at her bag, she had to find a way to get to her phone, to warn Alice they were coming.
Hotch turned to her, a strange look in his eyes.
"You're one hell of a profiler." he murmured.
"What?" Jessica was confused.
"You said that to me, you were holding a baby."
What was he talking about? She didn't remember saying…
She gasped as a faint memory of her holding Jack as a baby popped into her head. She had come to visit and Jack had been crying in Hotch's arms; he had given her his son to hold because once again he had been called away to work. Haley had told him it was okay to go and Jessica had mocked him with the "You're one hell of a profiler" line when she saw he couldn't tell how angry her sister was.
But...that was years ago!
"You remember that?"
Hotch looked past her at the apartment building.
"Is this it?"
"Aaron…"
Dark eyes glared at her. "Get out of the car."
Eyes wide, Jessica did as she was told, the faint ringing of her phone coming from the bottom of her bag.
Rossi picked up his phone on the first ring.
"Garcia, talk to me!" he shouted over the squeal of the tires.
Morgan's eyes flicked to him, then back to the road as the car raced down the street; Reid and Prentiss leaning forward from the back seat.
"Sir…the car is parked in front of Jessica's apartment building."
"For how long?"
"Just a minute or two. I tried calling her cellphone and home phone, they both go to voicemail."
"Thanks Garcia, we're on our way." Rossi hung up.
"Garcia said there's no answer from Jessica's cellphone or home line…Reid, what was the name of Jessica's neighbor, the one Hotch told us comes over to watch Jack on occasion?"
Reid's eyes flickered for a second. "Alice, Alice Hoffman."
Prentiss scrolled through her phone looking for Alice's number; giving a quick explanation to the confused stares she received.
Hotch gave me her number, he thought someone else should have it...for emergencies..." her voice slid away with a frown as she severed the call.
She shook her head. "Voicemail."
Rossi dialed Jessica's home line, the phone rang, then also went to voicemail after a few rings.
"How long, Morgan?" Rossi asked as the landscape outside the car whipped quickly by.
"It's approximately 30 minutes to Jessica's apartment building." stated Reid.
"I'll make it in 20." Morgan replied, pressing down harder on the gas pedal.
"Come on, come on…" Rossi dialed again, he remembered Hotch telling them about Alice, an older woman who visited frequently, staying with Jack when Jessica had errands to run. She was most likely still in the apartment with Jack waiting for Jessica's return. The state Hotch was in…Rossi needed her to pick up the phone, now. Unless it was too late...maybe Hotch and Jessica were already inside, maybe…
"Hello?"
-TBC-